Jeffrey

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

How is it possible to laugh, cry, bite your tongue and hold your breath all at the same time? Under a cloud of fogged innocence, Todd Black unleashes Jeffrey, a gay waiter/actor into a world of confusion.

Doug Rosen, Jeffrey Kwong, David Ballew, Todd Black and Sean Mellott in a scene from Jeffrey.

Directed by Steve Tangedal, Theatre Group’s Theatre Off Broadway brings the Off-Broadway smash hit of the early 90’s to vibrant precise life with an amazing cast coated in artistic expertise.

Jeffrey demands crucial timing and precision on a fast paced roller coaster ride, and this production delivers.

Although AIDS doesn’t get the notoriety it once did, Paul Rudnick’s play Jeffrey is as relevant today as it was when first produced in 1995. Rudnick’s ability to combine comedy, tragedy, misery, and grief is nearly legendary. It takes a highly qualified cast and production team to stop on a dime, give nine cents in change, to switch from one to another at times combining all four elements.

Safe sex has become the word of the day for Jeffrey, and because he can’t quite figure out how to accomplish the task, he swears off sex completely. If he lived in “monesterical” total seclusion, there would be no problem. He doesn’t. He lives in the heart of Manhattan surrounded by devil-may-care temptations. His best friend Sterling, deliciously played by Lonny Brewer, and his flamboyant, sometimes obnoxious lover, Darius radically played by Preston Lee Britton nag, tickle his fancy up close and personal in his face about the joy and need for love, which, obviously includes sex.

When Jeffrey meets Steve, compassionately played by Jeffrey Kwong, an attraction akin to soul mate numbing confuses the issues even more. Soft spoken, gentle Steve feeds a lacking awakening in Jeffrey. Dissolution mixed with anger erupts when Jeffrey discovers Steve is HIV positive.

All he has to do is avoid Steve, which turns out to be an impossibility; Sterling and Darius remain in his face unsympathetic to his confusion.

The demands placed upon the ensemble including Doug Rosen, David Ballew, Sean Mellott, and Kate Gorski with a variety of offbeat characters is enough to make any actor gag for air. These four don’t miss a beat, working independently and as a tightly glue together unit.

While Jeffrey tries hilariously and heartbreakingly to come to grips with Steve who always seem to be where Jeffrey is, he manically organizes fundraisers for AIDS, Gay Pride parades, Sexual Compulsive Anonymous, and swears he sees Mother Teresa around every corner.

Gorski’s brilliant hysterical and pathetic rendition of an Evangelical Evangelist is classic comedic drama. She maintains the walk, the talk, the stance, the words nailed to the wall. Her performance could have been taken straight off late night TV.

In all honesty Jeffrey seeks out a Catholic priest for confession. What he encounters is Ballew impersonating a dribbling, lecherous, tongue waggling, very funny man. Funny on the one hand. Not so funny in relation to real life contrast to Jeffrey’s on-going confusion.

The infiltration of slides against the back wall of the engaging set designed by Tangedal heightens the awareness of the action in perpetual motion on the boards.

Although definitely not a children’s play, Jeffrey includes every stereotype conceived and played out toward Homosexuality. The sad aspect of this rollicking dramatic comedy is that skillions of people who should see it will never darken the door. Would that it was legal to nab people by the nape of the neck and say “This you’ve got to experience”. Jeffrey moves way beyond gay audiences.

Stereotyping runs ramped in our society from race, to fat/thin, hair color, religion, politics, physical and medical disabilities, professions, unemployment, and homelessness, stretching from the ridiculous to the sublime. Anything, anyone different in looks, attitude, or thinking process gets shoved into a stereotyped box to keep them in their place out of sight out of mind. Ah-h, the magical mystery of theatre reaching beyond our own personal experience to enlighten, educate, tickle the brain cells, and tease the imagination.

Would that high school and college sociology classes fit a performance of Jeffrey into class schedules. Would that every church, mosque, and synogogue buy the house for a night. Would that every social group in the Denver metro area rearrange their “discussion” time to include Jeffrey. Not possible, oh, dreamer that I am. The wonderfully written Rudnick play, executed with glamour, honesty, hysterical pokes at human nature sitting side-by-side to one’s man’s deliberate attempt to find truth for his life demands attention.

Call for reservations. Bite the bullet and go. Shock waves may grab hold of nerve endings, laughter may give way to open tear ducts, and honest conversation not normally heard in polite circles may crinkle the ears. Truth doesn’t always enjoy following the norm. Truth about stereotyping wants to be seen and heard eyeball-to-eyeball, nose-to-nose. Theatre Off Broadway’s explicit production of Jeffrey speaks loudly and clearly with artistic expertise.